BOKUMA (Alejandro Bertolo), was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the year of the horse.
At the age of 16 he started his formal training in Japanese painting “suiboku” style and calligraphy “shodo” in Buenos Aires, under the guidance of the Japanese artists Tazuko NIIMURA and Sho FUNAKI. Later on he studied the “nihonga” style of painting with the artist Hiroshi YAMAMOTO, in Canada. He has also studied Japanese calligraphy with the renowned calligrapher Masako INKYO at the Japan Society in New York.
He learned the technique of painting-mounting and Japanese style screen-making with Akihiro KATO, Conservator of the Japanese Paintings Section of the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington DC.
After having developed his personal style, he paints mostly wildlife and nature, with an emphasis on those species threatened with extinction in their natural habitats. Alejandro Bertolo is a member of “Artists for Conservation”, an organization focused on supporting nature though art. In particular, he has pledged his support to “Fundacion Vida Silvestre Argentina”.